It was crying again. Little screeches of need that were sort of like the meows of a full grown cat, but not quite. It was something between a needy howl and a low whimper of need. There were different sounds for different things as well. The mixed blood had gotten good at figuring out the cry that meant food was wanted. The others though she was not quite sure. She tried her best to figure it out. She picked the little creature up and tried to cuddle it a lot, thinking that was what it wanted. The little animal did not want her, though. It wanted its mother and how Jaylani wished she could give it that. Only, its mother was gone now. The mixed blood did not know where it was.

“Shh.. it is okay. I here. What you need?” the mixed blood murmured, her voice groggy from lack of sleep.

The little one had been found late in the afternoon a few days before. Uta had been out in the jungle and came across a nest that held one crying, very cold, kitten and its one dead sibling. Jaylani had been reached after that and she came to the aid of the baby animals. The first order of business had been to look for the mama cat, but looking at the shape of the babies pretty much told the story. Mama had either abandoned them or something had happened to her. Jaylani had made the decision to go into the nest and retrieve the live kitten. She wanted it to have the best shot at life that it could get. Since mama cat was gone, the best shot it had was with the animal healer.. unfortunately.

Jaylani was not well experienced in the ways of keeping baby animals alive. She did not even actually know what the breed of this one was and could not tell even how old it might have been. Its teeth had already mostly come in and its eyes were fully opened along with its ears. It had a silky soft coat covered in dark tan spots outlined in black and there were stripes on its cute little face. It had not been interested in solid food yet, though, and finding something for it to nurse on had been all but impossible. The one mother pig Jaylani thought was tame enough that she might accept the baby cat had not even given the baby creature a chance before rejecting it. Jaylani had had to settle for using coconut milk and trying to mix other ingredients in that would keep the baby alive.

“Hungry? Again?” Jaylani asked the crying kitten tiredly.

The mixed blood had been up all night with the baby. If it was not eating, it was usually sleeping, and she was counting its breaths to make sure it staid alive. It was her worst nightmare that the baby would fall asleep and never wake up again. She knew that there was a very real possibility of that happening so she just tried not to think about it. All she tried to think about was the baby’s next meal and how she was going to get it to go to the bathroom. It had not done that yet and she could not figure out why. She had had it for two or so days now. Was the food not rich enough? Was it too stressed? Were there other reasons? Was she suppose to do something to get it to use the bathroom? She did not know and worried because of that unknowing.

The “formula” Jaylani had made for the kitten was as close as she could get to mother’s milk without having the real thing or any good substitute. She had drained the milk from a coconut and added in the yolk of two eyes. The yolk had all the protein and she knew babies needed that. There were other things that babies needed too, but she did not know what those things were. For the first few feedings she had gotten ahold of some of that nursing sow’s milk, but now that was gone. That was gone and all the mixed blood had was some coconut milk with egg yolk in it. She was beginning to think her charge would not even last till the morning.

“What do you need? How can I help?” Jaylani cried, little tears falling from her cheeks.

The kitten was in her lap wrapped in her winter blanket that she never used. It had been cold when it first arrived, but now at least that was not a problem. It only became of concern when the baby wandered out of the nest Jaylani had made for it. It was fairly mobile which made her think it was not very very young. Maybe right at that stage between when it needed mother’s milk and when it could start hunting. The animal healer was not sure and she surely was not thinking herself to be much of an animal healer at this point. She could not even ensure a baby cat’s life! How could she be entrusted with the lives of any of the animals in the settlement?

“Here, you hungry?” Jaylani offered the kitten her poor excuse for animal milk.

The mix blood had the “formula” mixed in one half of coconut that had been scraped clean and made into a make-shift bowl. She basically just dipped her finger in and let the baby get the drop. It had started to try suckling on her finger in the beginning, but it knew now that brought it nothing. All she had were the little drops. It licked at her finger now until the little amount was gone. Jaylani got it to do this with some of her make-shift food, but it did not seem to like it so much. Jaylani did not blame it, she doubted it tasted very good.

“I do not know what to do,” Jaylani cried, so scared of what was going to happen.

Jaylani petted the kitten’s soft fur and ruffled it a bit around the kitten’s ears. It purred for her at least. It was content in her lap now. It had taken her these two days to even get that. Now though.. she did not know if it was even going to last another two days. She gave a shuddered sigh and rubbed her thumb on the baby cat’s cheek. It kept trying to bite her which made her laugh as she moved her hand out of the way. She pressed the tip of her finger against the baby cat’s nose gently before pulling away.

“No bite,” she said, giggling lightly through her tears.

Jaylani sniffled and wiped her nose with the back of her arm. Her crying had started to cause a dripping of snot from her nose which was so very unpleasant. The mixed blood picked the baby cat up in her arms with the blanket around it and placed it down on her bedroll. She gave its head a light scratch before she got up and moved over to where she kept her food stored. She was beginning to think that maybe the kitten would eat something solid for her now. If it was trying to bite her.. maybe it was ready. She hoped so. She did not know what she was going to do if not.

Within her crate where she kept the food, she had a fresh fish. It was not very big for it was the poor catch of a first fishing attempt, but it was still fresh. She had been planning to eat it herself, but the kitten needed it more if it would eat it. So the mixed blood took out the fish along with her food knife. She sat down and began tearing the thing open. She was still not very good at taking apart her fish, but she was able to get to the meaty part eventually. The skin was choppily taken away to reveal whitish pink muscle that had already been butchered harshly by the food knife. Jaylani did not care. She cut about half of the muscle away. Well, cut is too nice of a term for what she did, she more like tore it away from the rest of the fish.

The mixed blood took the whitish colored flesh of the dead fish and smushed it between her fingers. She was careful to pick out all the bones and make her pieces as small as she could before she mixed the fish in with the coconut milk and egg concoction. She looked down at the mixture now, more satisfied. It was as soft as she could get it and it had fish in it. What cat did not like fish?

The little cat was on the move when Jaylani turned back to bring it the new mixture of food. It was wandering around, poking around her temporary home and exploring near where its nest had been made. It was at least getting more adventurous as the days went on. Maybe she was doing something right. Jaylani hoped so. She walked over to where the baby cat was playing. Her tent was rather messy so there was lots for him to find and play with. Probably not a very smart idea on the mixed blood’s part considering he could make more of a mess, but she was not thinking like that. She just wanted to keep the creature alive.

“Hey buddy, what you got there?” Jaylani questioned in a laugh as she watched her furry charge paw at an upside-down seashell.

Jaylani laughed when the pretty shell was half spun around and the kitten jumped back a good little bit. It was fun to watch the creature explore when she was not worried that it was going to die. She was pretty sure that the kitten was a boy, but she was not completely sure. It was hard to tell and she did not know the anatomy of a cat very well to be able to tell without it being blatantly obvious. For now she acted as though it was a boy and if she was wrong.. she would worry about that later. For the time being she was holding off on naming it anything. Just in case she was wrong.

“Trade?” the mixed blood prompted, taking away the shell and putting the coconut half with the mix in front of the baby.

He was curious enough that he sniffed it. That made Jaylani hopefully. Perhaps he smelt the difference and wanted this new thing. She waited a moment as he sniffed around, hoping that he would begin lapping it up. He did not do that. Not at first anyway. He started to put his nose in it, but he was not getting that he had to lick it up. Jaylani reached forward and put her finger into it, stirring it upwards and presenting it to the kitten. She rotated her finger slowly. Bringing it up to his mouth, let it rotate into the mixture and pick some up. It took her a couple times of practically shoving it in his face before he even tried.

“There you go,” Jaylani praised when the kitten stuck its tongue out and just tasted the mixture.

The mixed blood’s heart was warmed and her soul encouraged. Perhaps he was older than she had originally though. Perhaps this semi-liquefied fish mixture was what he needed. She hoped that was the case because it was best case scenario for her. She could do this if he was at the stage where solid food was just around the corner. It was finding him milk or something to nurse on that was a more difficult problem. His little laps at her finger were encouraging. She thought that maybe, just maybe, she could actually do this.

“Such a good kitten,” the mixed blood praised further as he continued to get some of the food in him.

The kitten did get some of the food in his system. He was getting a lot on his face and on the floor as well, but Jaylani was sure he was getting at least some within him. She continued to rotate her finger in the mixture for as long as he showed interest. She wanted to get as much of it in him as possible. He did not want to eat for as long as she wanted him to, though. Soon enough he refused to open his mouth and Jaylani had to give up for the time being. She hoped that he was just full and that this was not his stomach now disagreeing with him. She needed this to work. The gods only knew how badly she needed this to work.

Jaylani wiped off the kitten’s face with a bit of clothe and put the rest of the food mixture near where she had made his nest. She also put down another shallow half of coconut that had been filled with water. She did not have any true bowls because she rarely had use for them so the coconut halves would have to do. Hopefully the kitten would not mind and would use them regardless. After that, the mixed blood cleaned her floor with that same bit of rag and wrapped what remained of the fish up before putting it away. She then gathered the little kitten up in her arms and laid down on her bedroll. She liked to cuddle him and slowly, slowly, he seemed to warm up to it. She was not a replacement for his mother, but she was trying her best and she was going to continue to do that for however long they had together. Whether that be a single bell longer or the next ten years.

The kitten did not stay rested on Jaylani’s stomach for very long. It had curled up and seemed like it was going to for a chime, but then it had gotten up and began to wander around again. At least he was no longer crying. Jaylani turned on her side and watched the kitten as he wandered around. He liked to sniff things, discover things, play with anything he could get his paws on. Jaylani thought that he was kind of like her in that way. She had a tendency to be curious and explore whatever she could, play with whatever interested her in the moment. She liked watching him. It was calming almost. If he was up and moving around than he was likely doing alright.

The mixed blood watched him until her eyes grew too heavy to keep open anymore. She knew that the front flap of her tent was secured shut so he would not be going anywhere. He was growing tired anyway, by the looks of it. Jaylani got up and moved him over to his blanket where she tried to pet him into tiredness. He was easily enough prompted to go to sleep which made the mixed blood smile.

“I will see you in the morning. Please be alright,” she murmured before placing a kiss on the kitten’s head.

Jaylani stared at him a moment longer before she returned to her bedroll. She laid down and near instantly she fell asleep. After two days of getting relatively no sleep because of worrying so much for the wellbeing of the kitten, to finally now not be as stressed was all the permission her body had needed to fall into an instant and deep sleep.

~

There was darkness all around her. She had felt this darkness before. It was not true darkness, but almost green in color while velvet in texture. This place was not a pleasant place from what she remembered. It had been a strange place and light had died here. She wanted to get out, but this time she at least knew how to do that. Find the light. She had to find the light. Where was the light?

She did not have to depend on her searching skills this time around. No, she knew something better. Somewhere around here there must be wood. She did not need kindling or even air by this point. Just something to burn. The vines on the mirror would do. The body of the woman surged forward. She found the mirror covered in vines and smiled knowingly.

'Light.' was her mental order.

And the flames came. All of the colors of the rainbow consumed the mirror in a fire that was both beautiful and destructive. Jaylani reached out towards it and stepped through the mirror covered in burning vines.

~

Syna’s light was pouring in through the canvas. Jaylani turned on her back and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She did not linger long on herself, however, but instead got up to attend to her little charge. She looked for him in his bed first, but did not find him there. She looked around the tent after that only to find him pulling on the strap of her backpack. She smiled and rolled her eyes.

“Good morning little buddy. Let go of that please,” Jaylani requested as she picked him up with gentle hands and moved him away from the strap of her backpack, “how was the night?”

The mixed blood looked around to see if anything had changed during the few bells she had taken to sleep. What she saw surprised her, but it was a pleasant surprise. The food coconut was mostly empty now and in the corner he had done some business. Her worries were quelled. They were going to be just fine.

“Such a good boy little buddy. Such a good boy,” Jaylani praised, petting his head, “We be just fine. Thank you Caiyha. So much, thank you.”

Jaylani continued to beam, her heart bright and her soul shining with all the joy she felt.